Wikis

A wiki is simply a website on which users can easily create and edit web pages and edit the content (text, images, hyperlinks etc.) on those pages. They are good for group and project work where students are asked to work together to plan, develop or present their work. In an educational setting, access to view and edit the wiki is usually restricted to only the learners involved in the project, but they can be made available for the whole world to see and contribute to.

One of the main features of a wiki is that there isn’t a predetermined structure. With an open architecture, as pages are created, populated and linked together, structure emerges as a result of user participation. This enables users to edit and control the organisation of the entire wiki, not just the content of individual pages.

Another feature is that users can edit/delete each other’s work. But don’t worry, a chronological history of page changes can be seen, you can see who changed what and it’s possible to revert to previous page versions if needed. This means it is easy to see who has done what within a group, so it is easy to see which students have contributed (or not!).

Benefits of wikis to learners

Ability to collaborate textually while creating rich content.

Enable participants to benefit from group knowledge and interactions, where the knowledge of the group is greater than the individual.

Learners who are shy or face other problems in face to face environments may flourish in an online written environment (e.g. international students)

Develop higher order thinking skills (see Bloom’s taxonomy) such as the ability to create and evaluate.

Negotiation – the ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting multiple perspectives and grasping and following alternative norms.

(Source: ‘Confronting the challenge of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st Century’)

Blackboard wikis

The Blackboard wiki tool (requires UWE login) is useful for teaching staff who wish to remain within the Blackboard environment.

PBworks wikis

For FET staff who want to use a wiki system more akin to those used in the commercial, professional and social world we have an account with PBworks. If you would like to use PBworks in your teaching please contact Oliver Haslam in FET’s LIU.

Learner-centred pedagogy

‘Learner-centered teaching shifts the responsibility for learning to the students and away from the teacher — when instruction is learner-centered the focus is on what students, not teachers, are doing.’

Saulnier (2008) ‘From “Sage on Stage” to “Guide on the Side” revisited’.

‘Students learn by incorporating understanding of the subject into their existing knowledge base, and so must take an active role rather than being passively taught. The professor’s job is therefore to facilitate learning rather than lecture.’

King, (1993) ‘From Sage on Stage to Guide on the Side’.

‘The wiki epistemology therefore has several important characteristics:

construction/co-construction – individuals acting together to produce knowledge and their products;

different ways of learning – individuals acting together as equals – sometimes an expert, sometimes a novice, rather than in competition;

the authority of ‘the’ expert is undermined; and a different philosophical underpinning which is more oriented towards constructionism.’

‘Wiki pedagogy thus entails the following dimensions:

opportunities to develop competency in the skills required through an apprentice style beginning; an open framework of (inter)disciplinary knowledge;

multiple pathways for entering, learning and building the wiki content;

recognition that it is never finished;

understanding and accepting both competition and collaboration/cooperation; and emphasising the potential for perspective shifts.’

Ruth & Houghton, (2009) ‘The wiki way of learning’.

‘Many users of learning management systems [e.g. Blackboard or Moodle] focus on delivery of prepackaged ‘knowledge’ to be acquired by the student. Some or even many users rarely allow interaction between students and between students and teachers, and rarely employ options that are available for providing interaction ‘spaces’. Where they do, it is separate from content. Wikis, on the other hand, shift the focus to construction of knowledge, rather than presentation of information, often giving students an active role in the formation of knowledge’

Ruth & Houghton, 2009.

‘Wiki collaboration can be seen as an ongoing conversation as students constantly update pages based on interactions in face to face sessions, research online and reflecting on the work of their peers and the teaching team. These interactions potentially deepen the level of intersubjectivity or shared understanding (Wertsch, 1998) achieved in the course. This was demonstrated through student reflections.’

Ruth & Houghton, 2009.

Contact Oliver Haslam in the LIU if you are interested in using wikis in your teaching.

UWE’s Blackboard Support provide information and support on the Blackboard wiki tool (requires UWE login)